Ministers Harris, O’Brien and Donohoe launch new long-term policy to deliver student accommodation at Dublin City University
The three Ministers outlined the details of the policy as they viewed plans for 521 beds in Dublin City University and Maynooth University with both to go to construction in the coming months.
Speaking today, Minister Harris said:
"I am delighted to confirm Government has agreed a long-term policy on student accommodation. This policy will help increase the supply of student housing in campuses across the country but will also help prevent students competing with families for private rental accommodation.
This vision and policy will inform a new Student Accommodation Strategy, which will be published later this year.”
Minister O’Brien said:
“Supply is key to addressing our housing needs and thankfully it continues to increase. We have a robust stock of new homes in the pipeline as evidence by yesterday’s record breaking commencement figures.
Today’s announcement points to even more supply and is the result of close collaboration across Government. We know that for every student space that is created it helps to ease the pressure in the private rental market and both I and my Department will work with Minister Harris and his Department in significantly scaling up this supply.
From limiting the amount of deposits which can be requested, to introducing a renters tax credit and implementing a 2% cap on rent increases which apply to student specific accommodation also – this Government have clearly demonstrated we want to level the playing field for students.”
Minister Donohoe said:
“I welcome the work to date on developing a policy in regard to student accommodation and look forward to the continued engagement between DFHERIS and my officials with regard to the continued development of this policy and student accommodation proposals.
Taking a longer-term view, in any area, helps us to better plan for the future and to provide for exactly what it is we need.
This policy is designed to address the issue of student accommodation and to better meet students’ housing needs. This, in turn, aims to improve the level of housing stock for others in the community; families, couples, other workers, as they will ultimately not be competing for the same premises.
It should also provide students with greater certainty and affordability when it comes to securing a place to live during the academic year. I look forward to the publication of the full Strategy in the coming period.”
Prof Daire Keogh, President of Dublin City University said:
“I warmly welcome the government’s new policy on the provision of student accommodation. After lengthy and constructive engagement with government departments we arrived at a solution that allows DCU to shortly commence the construction of over 400 affordable on-campus beds.
The model we arrived at represents an important step towards addressing the supply and affordability issues and it is gratifying to see the government indicate that our approach can be used as a national blueprint.”
Declan Raftery, Chief Operations Officer of Dublin City University said
“With the support of Government, DCU is currently out to tender for Phase I of its Campus Residences project, consisting of 405 beds, with construction scheduled to start in the early summer and a completion date of June 2026.
We welcome the commitment from Ministers Donohoe, O’Brien and Harris for further engagement to enable Phase II, consisting of 835 beds, to proceed. There is an urgent need to provide affordable student accommodation and the model DCU has developed is designed to do that in a very challenging construction market.”